Twin dreams fulfilled as sisters graduate together as doctors

Identical twins Sanumi and Sanuthi Ranasinghe have achieved a rare milestone, graduating as medical doctors on the same day from the University of Auckland.

According to a report by Stuff, the sisters, who have long shared a dream of becoming surgeons, crossed the graduation stage together on Tuesday after completing six years of medical training. Originally from Colombo, Sri Lanka, the twins moved to New Zealand with their family when they were just 10 years old.

Their ambition to pursue medicine began early. “We had a phone book at home in Colombo, and I had written on it ‘Surgeon Sanumi’,” Sanumi said. “I had written underneath, ‘Surgeon Sanuthi’. That was one of the first things I had written when I picked up my pen,” Sanuthi added, Stuff has reported.

Throughout their studies, the twins supported each other academically and emotionally, often sharing similar learning experiences. They even undertook the same clinical placement in Melbourne, which occasionally led to confusion among hospital staff. “When we were in Melbourne, we were switching back and forth between these two hospital campuses every week. So they thought we were the same person,” Sanumi said. “So they're like, ‘remember what I told you last week?’ I was like, ‘No, I wasn't there. I don't remember,” Sanuthi added, as reported by Stuff.

Earlier this year, the pair also completed a surgery elective together at Hammersmith Hospital in London. “It was nice working alongside Sanumi, because she was on one side of the theatre table and I was on the other side, suturing on one side and she was doing the other side,” Sanuthi said. “It was a unique experience we will probably never experience again,” Stuff has quoted.

Now qualified doctors, the twins say they are excited to begin their professional journeys, even as they prepare to take different paths ahead. “We've been through a lot, but despite all of this, we are very grateful to have been able to complete six years of medical school together,” Sanumi said, as quoted by Stuff.